Review: 'New Girl' - 'Backslide': Nick, of time

A review of tonight's "New Girl" coming up just as soon as I'm a grown man who dresses like an unsponsored professional skateboarder...

"Backslide" continued the overall surge the show has been on ever since the Fancyman two-parter, but it also did a few things I wasn't wild about, so let's start there.

First, while I'm glad the show revisited the Jess/Paul relationship — and acknowledged in her conversation with Cece that Jess has broken up with her two good boyfriends for very sketchy reasons — the "proposal inspired by cheating" trope is never a good idea, whether it's in drama ("Smash" tried a variant of it last night) or in a comedy like this. Even by the broad reality of this show, and even with Paul acknowledging that the timing was beyond horrible, I just couldn't focus on any of the jokes (like Jess having to reluctantly propose on Paul's behalf when he lost his voice) because it made no sense that Asian Jess would, under any circumstances, say yes right then and there.

Second, as happened in the episode that introduced us to both "sex-cretary" and "manbulance" in the same half-hour, the constant discussion of backsliding felt like it was the show trying to make a catchphrase happen. Even "Seinfeld" was guilty of this, from time to time (the episode where Jerry is horrified that Elaine "faked it" comes to mind), but it's something any comedy needs to be very careful about.

Third, while I loved all the individual jokes about Winston's earring (all of which were so bunched together in the race to be this review's intro line that I had to put them all aside and go with the skateboarder gag), both the style of them and the piling-on nature of them really felt like they belonged on the show that currently employs Coach.(*) Funny is funny, and "Happy Endings" shouldn't have a monopoly on a universal concept like insult humor among friends/roommates, but the phrasing of those jokes really felt like they could have been coming out of the mouths of Adam Pally, Eliza Coupe and company.

(*) Multiple Coach references this week in the video with Past Nick, and a thought occurred to me when the idea of Nick moving in with Caroline came up: in the (hopefully very unlikely) event that "Happy Endings" doesn't come back, would this show and/or Damon Wayans Jr. consider a part or full-time reunion? I think the idea of Coach moving back into the loft for however long Nick is living with Caroline has a lot of promise, especially now that Winston has been so clearly delineated as a character. Then again, the writers have had a full season to deepen their understanding of all the other characters, where they only had 21 minutes or so of Coach. Would he seem like a relic of what the show used to be if he came back, even as a one-shot guest star?

And, fourth, there's Jess/Nick. I'd like to look at that final scene as being entirely about Jess being a good friend to Nick, but the show's been telegraphing their hook-up of destiny for so long — including the climactic scene just last week — that it's hard to view it through any lens but a romantic one. And I don't feel like the show's given us enough evidence that this is a worthwhile story to pursue for any reason other than that it's the kind of thing shows like this do.

All that having been said, there was an awful lot of good material here. Cece and Schmidt continue to be an unexpected highlight. The broken penis joke was wisely introduced late into the season so they won't be able to overuse it, and the payoff of Schmidt getting a massive erection from the idea of emotional intimacy gives me faith that the writers can keep making this story funny now that the two of them have moved past the mutually loathing sex buddies phase and into something more sincere.

Nick's attempt to address himself from the past was another familiar gag — "Parks and Recreation" did it last season with the second Ron & Tammy episode, for instance — but the writers and Jake Johnson have gotten such a handle on Nick in this last batch of episodes that it felt like its own thing. We know now that Nick is going to spout a whole bunch of nonsense in both the past and the present (at this point, it's turning into the "Troy & Abed do something goofy" of "New Girl" tags), and yet he remains just real enough that it's possible the reunion with Caroline won't be a fiasco. Okay, it will, because Nick and Jess must hook up some day soon, but he at least can sound convincing when arguing for her with both his past self and his current roommates.

And even though I didn't like the proposal gag, I thought Paul's return overall worked well, as both an appropriate post-script to the end of the Fancyman affair and a callback to where both Jess and the show were back in the fall. Ultimately, you can't have Jess pair off with her male equivalent — which is also why Paul and Asian Jess are likely doomed to failure for reasons other than his cheating — but Zooey Deschanel and Justin Long worked well together one more time. I also enjoyed seeing the run of Genzlinger-inspired nicknames the guys had come up with since the relationship ended.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

I was thinking the exact same thing about Damon Wayans Jr. if Happy Endings gets cancelled. I think the show could pull off the integration and if he moves back in it could only bolster the already strong show.

Happy to see the great Madhur Jaffrey as Cece's grandmother. She's written some of the best cookbooks out there, as well as having a long career as an actress. I've read that she introduced Merchant to Ivory!

I had assumed that Raza Jaffrey, Dev on Smash, was a descendent of hers, but it seems that I was mistaken.

I usually tend to agree with the point about shows trying to add to the pop culture vernacular (HIMYM's been the worst offender over the years), but I thought backsliding's a fairly common idea/term. Other than that, I completely agree with Alan's take.

Yes, the phrase existed before. So did many of the phrases used on Seinfeld (including faking it). But when you repeat it over and over and over in that way, you want people to start associating it with your show and view it as a catchphrase.

Also, that annoying Twitter hashtag graphic they threw up there during the episode ("#backslider") suggests the show was trying to "own" the phrase. Of course, all I thought of upon hearing it was the Radiohead song.

The shoving in of a setup for the [disappointingly predictable] Jess/Nick pairing just had me throwing things around. This ship is going to bring the series grinding to a halt. There will be misunderstandings, break-ups, reconciliations, lots of icky cutesiness, blah blah BLAH, all of it done to what I thought was everyone's satisfaction for about 20 years on Friends. I honestly thought this series was better than that, but all the little girls screaming "OMGWTFJESS/NICKELEVENTY!!!" was obviously too much for the writers to ignore.

And apparently it's a lot easier to write sitcom episodes when you're using a "tried-and-true" template. Again, thought this series was better than that, but I guess not.

I was hoping the coming up soon would of been: as soon as I realize I'm just the Caucasian you.

As for the episode itself I loved it. I'm not as bothered by the proposal at that moment, mostly because its TV and there just is jumps in logic in exchange for a joke, and the joke was funny enough for me to excuse it. Everyone has different opinions though.

It's amazing to think that Zooey has become the weakest part of her own vehicle, but this episode made it pretty clear. Every week we're talking about how Schmidt is golden and how Nick is on fire, and now even Winston is putting in work. The risk factor is always higher with your main character just due to more screen came away from tonight's episode almost wishing she was a lesser part of the cast.

I also disagree. She's every bit as funny as Schmidt and Nick, but more subtle (if that's possible on this show). The little duck and run move she made when she beat a hasty retreat from her first meeting with Asian Jess was an inspired little bit of physical comedy. There are a lot of little notes like these that she sprinkles throughout every episode.

Not that amazing. I love watching Seinfeld, but not for Jerry—the titular star. In fact, he's the least of his cadre. Although I think he's funny, his "moments" on the show aren't usually the ones I remember fondly or look forward to.

Totally agree. Zooey is just not funny enough with her jokes or delivery of them to carry this show or even be the funniest one. She's pretty much eye-candy that says a few funny lines every so often. The Schmidt character runs the show, with a big assist from the Nick character. Even Winston has had some funny moments over the last few weeks. Without them, this show is cancelled by mid-season.

I like the chemistry between Nick and Jess, however I do agree that the best thing the show could do is lead us to believe that they're destined to be a couple and then slam the door on it. I'd like to see them in the heat of one of their arguments suddenly kiss each other... pause and then just get grossed out like they kissed a sibling. I like how Jess challenges Nick and his reactions to her, but there's no reason they can't just share a sister/brother bond. Where they drive each other crazy but care about each other. (aaaaawwwwwww)

"especially now that Winston has been so clearly delineated as a character"

Is he? I feel the show is still in the "Let's throw things out there and see what works" with Winston. Last week, he couldn't shut up about Shelby. This week, barely any mention of Shelby, in an episode that is about sleeping with exes. Lately, Winston was the voice of reason when the other roomates were doing crazy stuff. Now, he has an earring with peacock feathers?

Good episode overall. I liked the earring jokes, although I would have liked it even more if Winston countered Schmidt with freshly baked bread comments. That's what roommates would do. You bust my balls, I bust yours.

I know Happy Endings is the current champions of best funny jokes of a group of friends going after one of their own, but i laughed at all the earings-related jokes, and it really felt natural, since me and my friends also pile on on each other from time to time.

You mentioned a lot of great jokes in this episode, Alan, but I also really enjoyed that Paul was an absolutely terrible crier. The concept of someone being bad at crying was good enough and Justin Long absolutely sold it by making incredibly ridiculous faces while pretending to cry.

I think, at this point, the Schmidt and Cece storyline can be moved out of the "unexpected highlight" category. The run has been too strong for too long.

As for the Jess/Nick hookup, it was clear from episode one. They had both just broken up with people. I knew from that minute that these two would be brought together. Unlike Alan, I think that *do* have chemistry, it's just that the show has been working against it for almost the whole season.I don't mind if they get together, successful or not, but the writers need to spend some time allowing them to get to that point naturally. Sure, they're both screw-ups relationship-wise, but that's not enough to bring them together in a satisfying way. I just would like to see them seem like like actual friends to each other first. A relationship should be a season 3 thing.

Hardest I've laughed at this show was when the emotional intimacy was turning Schmidt on and his reactions were great. I lost it when he passed out from the pain and then they cut right to more earring jokes from Nick and I was dying with laughter. Schmidt delivers his lines SO perfectly. When he got turned on by the mother bird and her "eggs" I was cracking up.